At Night

After nearly two decades of exceptional shorts, including I Hope I’m Loud When I’m Dead (TIFF ’18) and Someplace in Your Mouth (TIFF ’24), British filmmaker and artist Beatrice Gibson arrives with her much-anticipated and deeply affecting debut feature, At Night.

Shot in Paris with the city’s gleaming streets, metro lines, neighbourhood bars, and shuttering corner shops creating a richly textured setting, Gibson weaves an intersecting portrait of six women from varying backgrounds and professions seeking connection over the course of an ambulatory, neon-lit night.

Central to the configuration is B (director Gibson, performing with brave vulnerability), a filmmaker in the midst of losing her grasp on her current project, and wanting to reconnect with her now-distant friend Didi (Diocouda Diaoune), a single mother defiantly resisting society’s systemic attempts to confine her. Other women include a former sex worker reflecting on the complexities of her past and a poet who confronts the unspoken grief caused by infertility. Together, these nocturnal denizens give voice to a rare and liberating dialogue, exploring womanhood, motherhood, sexual desire, isolation, class privilege, race, societal malaise, and the delicate nature of family and care.

Exquisitely shot on 16mm by Ben Rivers (Mare’s Nest, TIFF ’25), At Night boldly transcends traditional narrative, opting instead for a form of poetic, collaborative autofiction guided in spirit by cult literary figures like June Jordan, Kathy Acker, Bernadette Mayer, and, especially, Alice Notley. Melding an atmosphere of urban anxiety with moments of tenderness and self-reflection, At Night is equally mesmerizing and melancholic as it shifts between narrative, documentary, and dream.

ANDRÉA PICARD

Content advisory: mature themes, coarse language